Ports for Normandy

[Esther H.]

We are hoping to find a cruise that will stop at a port for a full day so that we can tour the Normandy Beaches. Any suggestioons as to cruises that will meet this schedule. I assume the only port choices are LeHavre and Honfleurs.

[SarniaLo]

The closest port would actually be Cherbourg (sorry, no suggestion of cruises, but this can widen your search).

[Turtles06]

We are hoping to find a cruise that will stop at a port for a full day so that we can tour the Normandy Beaches. Any suggestioons as to cruises that will meet this schedule. I assume the only port choices are LeHavre and Honfleurs.

 

This very helpful web site shows which ships are scheduled to be in which ports all over the world on specific dates for the rest of the year. Scroll down to France and click on Le Havre and Cherbourg and you'll see which cruise lines and which ships will call there. Even if you aren't looking at 2014, you'll get a good sense of which cruise lines to check out. (Transatlantics often call at Le Havre.)

 

http://ports.cruisett.com/

 

We toured the D-Day sites from Le Havre two years ago with Overlord Tours. They are great. They are a small company and book up early, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a private tour.

[John Bull]

Only a few small cruise ships call at Honfleur.

 

AS SL's post, Cherbourg is closest to the D-Day sights, the first significant places are Ste Mere Eglise (airborne) & Utah at 25 / 30 miles. The US Cemetery / Omaha are about 50 miles. Juno (Canada) is 70 miles.

Ship visits are sometimes half-day, ridiculously short time for D-Day sights which are worthy of a full day & up to a full week.

 

Le Havre is further - about 60 miles to the eastern (British & Commonwealth sector) sights, 70 miles to Juno (Canada), 80 miles to the nearest US sights, 90 miles to the American Cemetery / Omaha.

 

Sailaways from Le Havre are usually into the evening (mainly to cater for visits to Paris) so you can achieve about as much with a full Cherbourg day and an extended Le Havre day.

 

JB :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

We are on a cruise this year that stops in Cherbourg...the Holland America Prinsendam. It also stops in St. Malo, France.

[Julessmiles]

We are hoping to find a cruise that will stop at a port for a full day so that we can tour the Normandy Beaches. Any suggestioons as to cruises that will meet this schedule. I assume the only port choices are LeHavre and Honfleurs.

 

Don't know where you are from but you could spend a week in the Normandy Beaches area & still not see everything. We have had several holidays on the Normandy coastline & also the Cherbourg penninsular and been lucky to explore so much there; it is such an interesting & moving place to go. Worth considering as a holiday in itself.

[susierailroad]

We will be visiting Cherbourg on the Celebrity Constellation in Sept., 2014. It appears that Omaha Beach isn't too far east of Cherbourg. Is Omaha the main beach to visit as a tribute to our WWII forces?

[John Bull]

It's 50 miles, about an hour, from Cherbourg to the American Cemetery at Collevile-sur-mer, overlooking Omaha beach & the focus of American interest.

 

The other US landing beach (Utah) is closer at 33 miles & forty-five minutes,.

Canadian interest centres on Juno (Courseilles-sur-mer), just over 70 miles / about 85 minutes from Cherbourg and about the same from Le Havre, and between the Brit beaches of Gold & Sword.

 

JB :)

[susierailroad]

Thanks, JB, for the quick info.